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MMA-GAF |OT4| BangBros

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Heel

Member
That fight makes perfect sense when you realize that Joe Silva and company are ready to get out of the Josh Koscheck business.

WSOF and his good friend Jon Fitch are waiting for him with open arms, inflated contract and all.
 

Chamber

love on your sleeve
Yeah, I think fellow Mckayla-Gaffer Heel is right on the money. The UFC is always looking to cut guys who make a lot of money yet have no hope of being champion. Josh is 0-2 against the Welterweight champion and can't hope to compete in another division. I'm sure Uncle Dana would love to cut that contract.

Swanson would get wrestled to oblivion. He's like a more skilled Leonard Garcia in that his most entertaining fights are with guys that will stand and bang with him.
I applaud that spot-on comparison.
 

Heel

Member
I'm sorry Jerry. If I wasn't tied to a bet I would switch my avatar to a Korean woman slurping on a phallic meat product so you and the people you view NeoGAF with can be more comfortable.
 
Just think this could have been yours

6iytM0E.jpg
 

muddream

Banned
Can't wait for Bellator to come back, Dana & Midget Silva have lost the plot and it showed more than ever. I'm giving the Ultimate two more years at the most depending on whether or not Jonhy retires GSP in the summer.
 

Caspel

Business & Marketing Manager @ GungHo
But how many of those names actually stand a legitimate chance against Jones? Even the up and comers will get fed to him too soon, which screws their ability to build a fanbase for a clean matchup. Barring an unexpected win, they'll all lose to Jones the first time around.

Let me clarify that I don't see any of the prospects beating Jones right now. Instead, I'd rather see the prospects ready to take over once Jones leaves to heavy. Right now, once Jones goes to heavy, we have Teixeira/Gustafsson/Machida/Rua/Evans/Hendo/Lil Nog/Bader/Davis competing for the title. I'm not counting Franklin/Wanderlei/Griffin in title discussions and Mousasi since last I heard he was dropping to middleweight.

Of the match-ups that have yet to happen outside of Jones, the ones that intrigue me include Teixeira and Gus. Gus against Machida/Hendo and Teixeira against Rua/Hendo interest me.

Now about the potential "prospects" I mentioned:

Jan Błachowicz is the most ready out of all the fighters outside of UFC. He has six or more wins over former UFC or current Bellator fighters. Often wins by submissions and has uses average takedowns, will pull guard from the clinch against strikers (did so against Sokoudjou several times), and has never been KOed in the 20 matches he has participated in.

Linton Vassell is a big atheltic dude that is 6'4" tall, 29, and may improve a little with better training in the US. He survived an onslaught of strikes from Zelg Galesic and took the fight to the ground shortly after the bell of the first for a TKO by strikes. Only has a few years of fight experience, but has shown that he is aggressive (nickname "The Swarm") and can recover from shots. He also has won a Nogi championship in Britain, so his sub game is fine for the UFC.

Tyrone has dangerous stand-up due to a champion-like kickboxing record and multiple titles he has owned. I'm interested to see what happens when he faces a wrestler who will put him on his back.

Rumble Johnson is an athlete and has never been KOed. He's an adequate wrestler who knows how to utilize wrestling for decision victories and has a history of knocking out lighter fighters. Has weak submission defense, but the majority of LHWs aren't submission specialists.

Stringer is similar to Gus. Slightly tall (6'2") European, brawler that is untested. Biggest match-up was fighting current Bellator champ to a draw. Videos I have watched have shown takedown defense against non-wrestlers. Often fights close and in the clinch. He has sloppy takedown offense, but can sub from his back and transition out of dangerous scenarios.

Jason Jones is a black belt judo fighter that uses hip tosses for ground and pound offense (mostly hammer fists due to rules). He reminds me of a younger and taller Hector Lombard. He may be a better fit for middleweight since he has had trouble with fighters such as Riki Fukuda and Murilo Rua. Still doesn't deny that he'd be an exciting addition with his aggressive ground & pound and unique takedowns.

Yoshiyuki Nakanishi is another undersized LHW (5'10" 200lbs walking weight) that would be best at middleweight, but for sake of finding anyone outside of UFC, he's okay addition. He's 28, a boxer/wrestler (at least what I could tell from video), and has a victory over M'Pumbu. He fights Jason Jones soon, so I'd like to see the winner of the two get a shot in the UFC.

Max Nunes is undefeated (10-0), only 24, 6'4", all but two fight have ended in the first round by sub or TKO, never went to decision, and more of an athlete than a "fighter." His grappling is sound, stand-up is adequate due to power, and knows how to use submissions for finishes. Probably the best prospect out of the list.

It's tough to find prospects at 185 and above and even tougher to find ones with championship potential. You put together another TUF season and at best you find another Ryan Bader. Not much you can do about it to be honest.

Bader isn't terrible. Solid wrestler, below average stand-up, and has age on his side to continue improving. He has yet to reach his prime. Davis is the only other "prospect" that could improve to being a "threat" of taking the title. Will he? Probably not, but there's a chance that he gets a title shot within the next year if he can add another high profile win. Davis fighting the winner of Teixeira/Shogun should happen. Gus is exciting, but I do believe wrestlers will continue to give him fits.
 
A

A More Normal Bird

Unconfirmed Member
Gus is exciting, but I do believe wrestlers will continue to give him fits.

Jones will likely smash him on the ground but I don't think a single loss to Davis years ago counts as wrestlers giving him fits.
 

Heel

Member
UFC signs plenty of prospects, they just haven't been cracking the top half of the LHW division as of late. In fact some of the biggest prospects come and go without making any noise. Wagner Prado and Tom DeBlass are recent examples of this at LHW. These guys were highly-touted and fell flat.

You can't force these things when you have 40+ of the best available LHWs on the roster. Let them slowly trickle in without flooding the undercards. If they want to throw prospects against the wall and see what sticks, they should be using TUF. This is especially true when they're in the position to use the world as their feeder league for the foreseeable future and pick and choose at will (outside of maybe Bellator beginning to beat them to the punch on scouting and locking fighters down, but that's another topic).

The cream will always rise to the top. Latest example being Jimi Manuwa. Guys I see as worth a straight shot right now are Sp*ng and Drysdale, and even they are a pretty big question mark.
 

charsace

Member
I'm embarrassed by how much I enjoyed Jon Jones nearly fainting off his stool at the sight of his toe bone protruding out of his foot.

You should be. Something is wrong if you cotton to the sight of a person in pain from a broken bone.

If Gus can keep the fight standing he has a puncher's chance because he has one of the best chins in the division.
 

sazabirules

Unconfirmed Member
Has Baby Pettis always been a flyweight? I wouldn't be surprised if he gets picked up by the UFC after he wins against Jeff Curran.
 
Gus needs to face a wrestler before he fights Jones. Give him Evans and lets see how he fares. Otherwise I would much rather see Machida get a rematch with a full training camp, or even Hendo. If that was Hendo in the clinch with Jones there is a good chance he could have been KO'd since we all know Sonnen has pillow fists.
 

sazabirules

Unconfirmed Member
Gus needs to face a wrestler before he fights Jones. Give him Evans and lets see how he fares. Otherwise I would much rather see Machida get a rematch with a full training camp, or even Hendo. If that was Hendo in the clinch with Jones there is a good chance he could have been KO'd since we all know Sonnen has pillow fists.

I'm a Gus fan and I agree that he should face one more guy before Jones. Hendo or Evans.
 

Chamber

love on your sleeve
Jones wouldn't be clinching with Hendo in the first place. He's just do what he did to Rampage and kick the shit out of Hendo's legs and wait for him to gas out.

Just put Gus in there so we have a fresh match-up. Machida doesn't offer anything in a rematch.
 
Bones is smart. He fought Chael the way he did because he knows Chael has no power and is no threat to hurt him inside with punches or elbows . He knew he could just get inside and manhandle him like he did. I don't know why people think he'd fight a hypothetical fight against Anderson or Hendo or anyone else the same way.
 

muddream

Banned
Gus needs to fight someone asap, it's stupid to wait on the shelf at his age. Can't think of a wrestler who's available, tho...apparently Bader's out until August, he'd be the perfect jobber.
 

MjFrancis

Member
For UFC 159 I was happy to see that the UFC women's 135 is 3/3 for finishes. Sure, two of those fights were squash matches, (Ronda/Carmouche & McMann/Gaff) but Cat v. Tate was an awesome scrap no matter how you try to spin it.

I'm more upset that Mark Hunt isn't getting a title shot if he beats Junior Dos Santos than Roy Nelson being told he won't get one now. I had a dream that Mark Hunt would take on Bigfoot Silva for the UFC belt, dammit, and Dan White took that away from me!
 

sazabirules

Unconfirmed Member
For UFC 159 I was happy to see that the UFC women's 135 is 3/3 for finishes. Sure, two of those fights were squash matches, (Ronda/Carmouche & McMann/Gaff) but Cat v. Tate was an awesome scrap no matter how you try to spin it.

I'm more upset that Mark Hunt isn't getting a title shot if he beats Junior Dos Santos than Roy Nelson being told he won't get one now. I had a dream that Mark Hunt would take on Bigfoot Silva for the UFC belt, dammit, and Dan White took that away from me!

Don't take Dana's word on anything.
 
Bones is smart. He fought Chael the way he did because he knows Chael has no power and is no threat to hurt him inside with punches or elbows . He knew he could just get inside and manhandle him like he did. I don't know why people think he'd fight a hypothetical fight against Anderson or Hendo or anyone else the same way.


Chael was the aggressor for the short while it lasted. He actually brought the fight to Jones. I doubt Jones plan was for Chael to get him in a clinch. If Chael can clinch him than so can Hendo if he plays aggressor. Rampage was extremely tentative in their fight. If Hendo is tentative and falls into Jones game than yes, he will lose like Rampage.
 
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